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Online reputation management is fast becoming a tool used by most large businesses. Unlike conventional media where communication is only a one-way street, the internet allows interaction between users who can give feedback, opinions and comments. Such encounters don’t always shed a positive light on a business and it would certainly be better to have some control over the unpredictable nature of online comments. Negative press can be exacerbated by search engine indexing and ranking. Without proper management protocol, it could easily go from bad to worse overnight. Here are some important reasons why a company’s online reputation must be managed.

Reputation Scoring

When web users look for information over the internet, the journey begins with a search engine. From there, websites can be selected from the results provided, based on the one with the most appealing and convincing results. It is interesting to note that search engines don’t just post results any longer; also included in a SERP listing is the website’s reputation as well. Instead of randomly choosing a URL, a viewer can base a decision on which reputation listing ranks the highest.

The results are determined by web user feedback that is gathered from all around the web. Without any definitive system in place, there’s no way to control web feedback no matter how or why it was created. Imagine being given a choice between two websites offering the same service – one scoring 8/10 and another scoring 3/10. The only way for a business to level the playing field is to use a reputation management firm to ensure that competitors don’t rank higher – if that is possible.

Monitor Reviews

As mentioned above, client reviews or user feedback are a major factor in the search engine’s reputation scoring, such reviews coming from blogs, comments, and even forums, ultimately adding to a company’s score. Without the online management of a business reputation, there would be no way to track user feedback and wrong information could easily propagate over the internet and tarnish a business’ image.

Having a set protocol will ensure the proper handling of negative internet feedback, reducing the likelihood of publicizing and highlighting such negative press and causing serious harm to the search engine’s reputation score. Having a management protocol is like having that ounce of prevention instead of having to repair the damage that has already happened.

Effect on SEO

Search engine optimization is a vital marketing strategy that helps popularize a website or a brand; however, without caring for an online reputation, SEO efforts to organically place a website at the top of the search engine’s results pages are meaningless. What value is there to the hard work of achieving first page ranking when the reputation score is so low that no one will have to clink on the link.

Online reputation marketing can be closely tied to SEO. By managing content with positive feedback and putting it into the spot light by adding SEO into the formula, it is possible to gain a remarkable score while at the same time boosting SEO with outstanding content.

Managing a business reputation is an important web strategy. The capability of users to post feedback that is used by the search engines as a major factor in establishing a company’s web reputation makes it critically important to monitor what is being posted on a business website!